Treating Justice-Involved Populations with Severe Mental Illness

Abstract

This chapter outlines several topics relevant to the treatment of justice-involved persons with serious mental illness (SMI). We begin with a historical overview, detailing previous work in conceptualizing and treating this population, followed by a review of contemporary practices and strategies. We describe the proposed co-occurring and reciprocal relation between mental illness and criminal risk, and discuss implications for correctional rehabilitation and psychiatric recovery. Building on the five-level model of risk assessment, we propose an integrated assessment model to advance service matching and delivery for justice-involved persons with SMI, an expansion necessary for holistic consideration of this population’s needs. Finally, we provide recommendations for practice and future research addressing co-occurring criminal risk and mental illness to enhance services for this underserved population.